10. The Wrath of the Dragon | Chapter 10: The Fall of Man
Paul in his letter to the Romans said, “...sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned…” Romans 5:12. When you see death, decay or deterioration occur, you are now sure that you are stepping into the territory of the Devil.
Sin and death are twin siblings, and sin is the elder of the two. Death cannot be born if sin does not precede it. The Bible says that “...the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23. In the above verse Paul said that by Adam, sin entered the world and death followed closely behind. God was dead serious when He told Adam, “...thou shalt surely die…” if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He knew of the power that Satan wields. Had Adam and Eve heeded God’s commands, the human race would have been safe from sin and death.
Nevertheless, they ate it…and the result was catastrophic. The fundamental building block of God’s creation is life itself. It is an absolutely sad state to be non-existent or to cease to exist. All living beings especially humans are tuned to have the fundamental instinct to live or to exist. The Devil knows that death is the ultimate result of his objective to lead man into rebellion against God.
Nothing is hidden from God because He is Omnipresent and Omniscient. He watched the whole battle that took place between the Serpent and our First Parents in the garden of Eden. Being all-wise and all-loving, he did not intervene for He wanted Adam and Eve to exercise their freedom of choice. His principle of giving His creatures the freedom of choice stood true. Man’s fall was his own choice. God cannot protect from the Devil those who do not obey Him.
Should we blame it all on the Devil? Surely not! The Fall of Man was the cooperation of man and the Devil. The Bible says, “Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Romans 6:16. Like it or not, when you yield yourself to sin, you are a servant of the Devil. Our choices determine which side of the war we are on. Whether we are on God’s side or Devil's side.
This will be the nature of the final battle prophesied by John in Revelation chapter 16. The Devil will rally all men who did not choose God to the final showdown between good and evil. The Bible says that three unclean spirits will “...go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty...And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Revelation 16:14, 16.
The sentence was given. Manki came face to face with death, but God had a back-up plan to counteract Satan’s attack and save humanity. In her book Patriarchs and Prophets, Ellen White wrote, “The Son of God, heaven's glorious Commander, was touched with pity for the fallen race. His heart was moved with infinite compassion as the woes of the lost world rose up before Him. But divine love had conceived a plan whereby man might be redeemed.”
Again she wrote in another one of her books The Desire of Ages, “The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal.” Romans 16:25, R. V. It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God's throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate. God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. So great was His love for the world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.
This plan was revealed when God told the Serpent, “...I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15. Knowing that the human race was now in partnership with the Devil, God through Jesus, had already created a backdoor through which man might escape from the kingdom of darkness and be at enmity with its ruler.
Does this mean that salvation is guaranteed for the human race? Certainly not! The Bible provides many pieces of evidence that proves the attainment of the gift of eternal life through choice. Right after the fall of man, God told the story of Cain and Abel, a clear representation of the two sides involved in this war. Cain chose to again disobey the instructions of God. This granted him entrance into the dominion of the Devil. His only escape was repentance and obedience to God, but he refused. “The murder of Abel was the first example of the enmity that God had declared would exist between the serpent and the seed of the woman—between Satan and his subjects and Christ and His followers.” Patriarchs and Prophets, chapter 5.
Throughout the history of the world, God and Satan have recruited men and women into their armies. “The great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon to close; and the wicked one redoubles his efforts to defeat the work of Christ in man's behalf, and to fasten souls in his snares. To hold the people in darkness and impenitence till the Saviour's mediation is ended, and there is no longer a sacrifice for sin, is the object which he seeks to accomplish.” The Great Controversy, chapter 32.
All who, by implementing their freedom of choice, would humble themselves and give their lives to God invoke the wrath of the Dragon. The Devil is well pleased by our ignorance and eventual rejection of the call of God.
“When there is no special effort made to resist his power when indifference prevails in the church and the world, Satan is not concerned; for he is in no danger of losing those whom he is leading captive at his will. But when the attention is called to eternal things, and souls are inquiring, “What must I do to be saved?” he is on the ground, seeking to match his power against the power of Christ, and to counteract the influence of the Holy Spirit.” The Great Controversy, chapter 32.
As we near the end of time, the war against God and His people is going to build up to the point where even families will turn against each other. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.” Matthew 10:34-36. I have a brother which I love very much. I cannot imagine turning against him if I choose to side with the devil.
Satan laid the foundation of rebellion in the heart of Cain which he wants to trickle down throughout the generations of the human race. This trickle-down effect will continue until the end of time. It will ripen to a full-scale battle, a combined force of evil angels and fallen men against God Himself. The choice rests upon everyone: choose God or choose the Devil.
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